Driverless-Car Makers on Privacy: Just Trust Us

“Google has a variety of policies we use around privacy,” said Chris Urmson, the head of the company’s self-driving car project. “We think a more flexible approach is preferred,” said Mike Ableson, a vice president at General Motors.“We haven’t really taken a position on mandatory or not,” said Glen DeVos, a vice president at Delphi Automotive. Perhaps most telling was the response from Joseph Okpaku, a vice president at Lyft, who said, essentially, that new rules aren’t necessary because Lyft and other companies are writing their own. “Lyft [is] developing these policies internally,” Okpaku said. “We’ve now seen policies that Lyft and other ride-sharing companies have enacted of their own volition become the standard for the industry.”